THE REAL WIZARD OF OZ: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF L. FRANK BAUM by Rebecca Loncraine, 2009.

An articulate account of a quite fascinating and lively American writer, the creator of the Wizard of Oz stories. Born and raised in New York State, but resided in such far flung areas as South Dakota, Chicago, and Hollywood, Lyman Frank Baum was one of a large and somewhat unconventional family. This biography, by an English scholar, pulls together the varied facets of Baum's life as an actor, playwright, storekeeper, oilman, salesman, and author--a life of failures and successes, fortunes and bankruptcy--and presents them in an easy to follow narrative. She has taken available research and made use of several special collections of Baum material in writing this account, and manages to show how different pieces of Baum's life truly affected his writing of the Oz stories as well as other works--he wrote other series and novels under at least half a dozen other names in the course of his career. His marriage to Maud Gage, daughter of a prominent feminist, and the raising of the four sons is covered in depth. The author is very good with her descriptions of  major influences on Baum--the bleak Dakota prairies, the Native American troubles of the West (Wounded Knee took place during Baum's residence in Dakota), family issues with various siblings and relatives, the Civil War veterans, and how he incorporated many of these things into his stories. Loncraine also dispels several of the myths concerning Baum--for instance, the name "Oz" was not taken from his filing cabinet as has been told before, but actually sprang from his own imagination during the writing of the original story.
  I would recommend this for anyone who's a fan of the Oz series or movie, or as simply a good popular biography of a fascinating individual who in fact created the first wholly American fairy tale.

THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake, 2010.

I found this to be a rather ho-hum novel. I enjoyed the writer's depictions of the bombings of London during 1940-41 and her descriptions of small town life on Cape Cod, Massachusetts during the pre-World War II era, but I found a lot of her writing to be just so-so, and the characters not all that compelling.The plot centers around three women: the postmistress of Franklin, Mass., Iris; Emma Fitch, the young and fragile wife of that small town's doctor, and Frankie Bard, a woman reporter in Europe who is trying to make Americans aware of what is happening overseas.These three had definite issues in their lives that they struggled to deal with, including pregnancy, midlife, workplace acceptance, loss, and emotional heartache. Parts of this were very good: the accident that befalls Emma's husband, the awfulness of the trainloads of refugees out of Germany and France, the horrific bombings at night in London, sirens blaring. But the story as a whole just didn't leave me feeling much for any of it. In the end, I don't think this book was worthy of all the hype it received.

"Green Lantern"(2011): my son took me to see this movie on Father's Day. Remembering that I had enjoyed the old comics and had read about the movie, I was curious enough to go. Ryan Reynolds was much better in the role of Hal Jordan than I expected, and there was good chemistry between him and Blake Lively, who played Hal's love interest, Carol Ferris. The story is quite simple really-- after tangling with the accidently released dreaded Parallax, a dying alien, one of many Green Lanterns, heads to Earth to find the next Green Lantern. His ring chooses none other than Hal Jordan, a brash, irresponsible pilot. Hal, after understandably initial reluctance, is taken for training on planet Oa, discovers the powers of the ring and the responsibility of being a Green Lantern, and when others fail, must save Earth from the menacing fear-fed creature that is Parallax.There's the added subplot of a loser scientist who becomes connected to Parallax and creates further problems for Jordan. Things all work out for our hero, and there's a set up for a sequel, too.  Overall it's a smashing good time--lots of great effects, chases, crashes, explosions and fights, super fun and excitement, all moving at a rapid pace. I went into it not expecting anything, but came out of it impressed and having enjoyed it. A surprisingly good summertime adventure flick that not only has lots of adventure and action but also decent acting and an actual story. It was worth my visit to the theater.

NOAH'S COMPASS by Anne Tyler, 2009.

Never read an Anne Tyler novel until this one. Read several reviews and thought it might be a good novel to discuss in my book discussion groups.Tyler is a popular author, and now I see why. She has a winning writing style, it almost seems effortless, and she has a knack for writing about everyday things in a believable way. Liam Pennywell, the main character in this contemporary novel, lives in Baltimore and is forced to take early retirement at age 61 from his teaching job in a private school. Not particularly upset by it, he decides to shed most of his possessions and moves to a small apartment in a different part of the city. He goes to bed one night and wakes up the next day in the hospital, with no idea why he is there or how he got there. Disturbed by his difficulties in remembering what happened, he goes on a quest to find out and ends up making other discoveries about himself and others along the way that are quite unexpected.Tyler's characters are wonderfully drawn: Liam is likeable, memorable, so true to life and easy to relate to. All of Tyler's characters are interesting: Liam's ex-wife Barbara, his daughters Xanthe, Louise, and Kitty (who wants to live with him), his friend Bundy, Kitty's somewhat deadbeat boyfriend Damian, his young grandson Jonah, and Liam's sort of girlfriend, Eunice.They are flawed and human and funny--Tyler uses humor to great advantage. Her portrait of Liam is sympathetic and interesting and seems very true to life in terms of someone who is facing and attempting to cope with the final phase of his own life. Totally enjoyable.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger, 2001.

Set in 1962-63, this is a coming of age story about an asthmatic 11 year old boy. Reuben Land lives with his somewhat unconventional father, his older brother Davy, and younger sister Swede in a small town in Minnesota. His father, a school janitor and deeply religious man, has kept the family together after the mom walked out years before. Davy, a tough and tender 16 year old, protects the younger siblings. Rube's sister is enthralled and fascinated by Western novels and stories, and spend much time writing her own, as well as poetry. When Davy shoots two teenage bullies who have invaded their home and threatened the family, he is arrested and jailed, but escapes and flees to parts unknown during the harsh winter. The rest of the family decides to leave town after the dad loses his job, towing a new Airstream, to search for Davy. They have unusual adventures and meet some interesting people as they ride off into the Bad Lands of the Dakotas. They are eventually taken in by a lone woman, Roxanna, who has personal issues of her own and becomes attached to the family. As the search for Davy intensifies, Rube learns some very hard lessons concerning love and forgiveness.
I found this novel a bit difficult to read, I think mainly because I didn't care for the writing style. Too choppy, abrupt, didn't have a good flow to it for my taste. Enger's descriptions of the winters in that part of the country made me feel cold all the time, and the interactions between Rube and Swede were interesting and often funny. But I just wasn't as involved with any of them as I could have wished. I was interested enough in the story and in the characters enough to read to the end, but it was not a totally satisfying reading experience. It was okay, but I was glad when I was done with it.

ELIZABETH I by Margaret George, 2011.

A huge, sprawling saga spanning the later part of Elizabeth Tudor's reign from 1588-1603. I have always been a fan of long and involving historical novels of this nature, and of Margaret George's in particular, and this one did not disappoint me. Ms. George knows her history and she knows how to weave and spin out her stories, involving the reader and keeping their attention throughout.  In this novel, Elizabeth herself narrates the bulk of the story, but interwoven with her narrative is that of her most famous cousin and rival, Lettice Knollys. These two make a good counterpoint to each other: Elizabeth's and Lettice's lives became forever intertwined when young Lettice came to Elizabeth's court and became involved with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth's love. After the Queen refuses to marry him, and Lettice's first husband dies, Dudley and Lettice secretly marry. Once their marriage is revealed,  Elizabeth, hurt and enraged, banished them both from court; she forgave Dudley and recalled him, but Elizabeth swore she'd never forgive Lettice for what she considered her betrayal. When this novel opens, the Spanish Armada has left Spain and is threatening England's future. By the end of the novel, Lettice, still alive and residing quietly in the country in 1634, is reminiscing to her grandchildren about her life and that of her glittering and powerful cousin.

George quite simply brings the entire Elizabethan era to life in her writing. Her use of period detail is wonderful and adds so much to the novel's meaning, and she writes so elegantly and vibrantly about the many colorful characters of that glorious era. The story is filled with enthralling people and events: the Armadas (there were four); the continuing problems in Ireland with the O'Neill; Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins and their piracy against Spain; Sir Walter Raleigh and his attempts to found a colony in the New World of Virginia; the Irish heroine Grace O'Malley; the Cecils, father and son, who ran the English government between them; Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, John Donne and other literary lights; the mystical Dr. John Dee; Sir Francis Walsingham, who managed the Queen's elaborate spy network; Robert Devereux, Lettice's son and Elizabeth's last, and most tragic, favorite, and so many others. This is a rich, dense, and juicy book--it contains among its pages enough court scandals, gossip, political intrigue, executions, religious strife, and financial dealings to fill several books. At the center of everything is Elizabeth, always in the thick of it, always thinking and puzzling and scheming and attempting to maintain her power and control at all costs. And in the background was Lettice, the one woman she could not control.

George creates some wonderful scenes within this story, fictional and otherwise: Elizabeth at Tilbury speaking to the troops gathered against the Armada; Elizabeth's meeting with the wild and unruly Grace O'Malley; Elizabeth spontaneously attending a goose fair while on a Progress; Lettice juggling relationships with three different men, but only truly in love with one of them; Lettice and Shakespeare discussing several of his plays as he writes them, and Lettice's attempts to help her son, Robert, and slowly coming to the dreadful realization that he is doomed. One of the most moving sections is near the end of Elizabeth's life, when the aging queen and her cousins Catherine Carey and Lettice Knollys arrange to meet at Hever Castle, the ancestral Boleyn home, never visited by any of the three before. Here, amidst a secret bower once used by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Lettice and Elizabeth come to an understanding, lay to rest old rivalries and ghosts, and finally find forgiveness in each other.

In this book, Margaret George definitely used all her writing skills to bring these larger than life figures to life in these pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the witty dialogue, clever exchanges and asides, and humor that she injected into the lives of her characters. The scene in which Elizabeth's godson John Harington installs the newly invented water closet in Elizabeth's chamber is quite funny in its description. In every detail, George has created a believable world long gone and made these real historical people human in every way. She has outdone herself totally and written a meticulously researched and powerful novel about two women who were alike in so many ways--looks, intelligence, wit, strength of character, charm, courage, craftiness--and manages to give an entertaining and complex portrait of how they lived--the choices they made (or were made for them), the different paths they followed, and how their lives intertwined and played out across the broad and richly woven tapestry of their world. Enjoyable for historical fiction fans, especially those of the Elizabethan period. Highly recommended.